Ra'Niir's Adventures in Skyrim
by Fire Spirit Noir
Summary: Ra'Niir is captured by an Imperial ambush on a Stormcloak group, just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now he is heading for the chopping block! Alduin inadvertently saves him from death and Ra'Niir makes a terrified run for freedom through Helgen. (This story is written after ACTUAL gameplay that YOU can direct, Read the author's note for more info.)
1. Messy beginnings

((A/N: This story, as I stated, is written as I play Skyrim. I have added a little flavor to Ra'Niir in the form of actual thoughts and opinions, so it isn't so vanilla. Please enjoy the story and make sure to read the Author's Note at the end!))

Ra'Niir came to slowly, the sounds of wagon wheels, not to mention his jouncing seat, stirring him from his unwanted slumber. He tries to rub his sore head with his right hand only to stare dumbly down at his bindings, and then groaned slightly as his head clears enough to remember what had happened.

Implicated in a crime he didn't commit, he'd fled from his caravan where he worked as a scout, running for months from the Empire until he attempted to cross the border between Cyrodiil and Skyrim. He must have made it into the Nord's country, for as he stepped from the bushes he'd come face to face with a large scruffy human in the middle of a fight, who promptly bashed poor Ra'Niir over the head with the pommel of his sword.

Noting the returning life in the Khajiit, a blond Nord wearing armor, and bound as well, addresses him. "Hey, you, you're finally awake! You were trying to cross the border right? You walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there." The Nord nods towards the scruffy dark haired human sitting beside him.

The thief sneers, "damn you Stormcloaks! Skyrim was fine until you came along; the Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you, I could have stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell!"He turns to address Ra'Niir, "you there! You and me-we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the empire wants."

"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief." The blond one says to the other human.

"Ra'Niir is confused," the Khajiit confesses, "what does he have to do with fight?" The pleading tone in his voice is clear.

Turning in his seat, the wagon driver calls over his shoulder, "shut up back there!"

Ignoring the Imperial, the horse thief looks at the gagged man sitting across from him and next to Ra'Niir, "and what's wrong with him, huh?"

"Watch your tongue," the blond Nord says sharply, "you're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King!"

"Ulfric?" The thief says, taken aback, "the Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion!" Understanding seems to dawn on the man, "but if they've captured you….Oh Gods, where are they taking us?!"

With the tone of one who is at peace with his fate, the blond man responds, "I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits."

Staring blankly, Ra'Niir knows about the Nord's Sovngarde, and he goes numb. This human believes he will be rewarded in death, but the Khajiit just wants to go home.

"No, this can't be happening!" The horse thief exclaims, earning him a dirty look from the driver as he continues, "this isn't happening…"

"Hey," the blond Nord speaks calmly, "what village are you from, Horse Thief?"

"Why do you care?" He responds defensively.

"A Nord's last thoughts should be of home," the blond returns.

The other human pauses for a moment, sitting stiffly, Ra'Niir knows how he feels. On the outside he is scared, but inside his heart hammers and his mind tries to escape. The Khajiit knows there is no escape, and only hopes to be sent to prison instead of the headsman's block. He fears what trouble the crazy human thief might get them into.

"Rorikstead," he says quietly, "I'm…I'm from Rorikstead."

They all stop talking a moment as a town comes into view; a soldier calls out to someone as the wagon passes under the walls, "General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting!" A chill races down Ra'Niir's spine.

Another human, apparently a leader of the human Imperials, answers the soldier with impatience, "good, let's get this over with."

As the cart they sit in crawls it's way under a large wooden gate into a small village the horse thief begins to shiver and pray, "Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akstosh. Divines, please help me!"

Cold and scared, Ra'Niir lays his ears back at the man's whining, "This one has done nothing..." He mutters to himself, trailing off as he looks desperately about. He only sees more human imperials standing guard, one of them sits astride a horse to their right wearing shiny new armor in the imperial colors.

Following his gaze, the blond prisoner sneers, "look at him, General Tullius the Military Governor." Here he gives pause to look at the fancy-dressed mages in black and gold standing close by, "and it looks like the Thalmor are with him. Damn elves. I bet they had something to do with this!" His voice, at the mention of elves, becomes even more hateful if that is possible.

The Khajiit is confused, what does he care about elves and Imperials? He just wants to go back to the warm jungles he called home, away from this cold terrible place, a shiver runs through him again. It's cause is as much the chill as it is his fear.

The blond human breaks into Ra'Niir's thoughts as he looks around, remembering, "this is Helgen. I used to be sweet on a girl from here." His voice is quiet, reserved as he shares a memory from his past, "Wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in...Funny, when I was a boy, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe."

At the mention of mead Ra'Niir feels his mouth water despite his fear, his head ached terribly and he would very much enjoy something wet. Even if it was the humans nasty strong mead drink. With a sigh, he looks at his own feet. He looks around when he hears the voice of a small boy.

"Who are they, daddy? Where are they going?" The boy sits on the steps of a house to the left, wearing a red tunic.

The father leans on the porch railing the right, turning to his son as he answers, "you need to go inside, little cub."

Disappointment in his face, the boy looks to his father, "why? I want to watch the soldiers."

"Inside the house, now!" Comes the man's reply.

The boy heeds it, standing reluctantly, "yes papa."

Almost at the same instant the man driving his cart shouts a command to the horses, "whoa!" As the cart slows to a stop another Imperial, this one a woman, bellows out an order to her men.

"Get these prisoners out of the carts. Move it!"

Horse Thief looks around in a panic, "why are we stopping?" He asks nervously.

In a voice calm and quiet, the blond Nord answers, "why do you think? End of the line." His lips are drawn in a grim line, not quite smiling but much braver than Ra'Niir feels.

They pull to a stop beside a second wagon that had been ahead of us, filled with blue cloaked prisoners with Nordic features and the hardened bodies of warriors. The driver steps down from his seat just as Blond Nord speaks again, "let's go. Shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us."

Shaking his head, Ra'Niir knows he must go to prison. Though he's done nothing wrong, he would rather spend a few days alive in a cell then die surrounded by strangers in a few minutes.

"No! Wait! We're not rebels!" Horse thief shouts, Ra'Niir thinks this human a coward, and he knows the man might well run...Ra'Niir hopes he gets away.

Seemingly annoyed, Blond Nord frowns as they are directed to get off the wagon, "face your death with some courage, thief." This does not hearten the Kahjiit at all.

Near panic, Horse Thief finds anger coloring his words as he spits a reply, "you've got to tell them! We weren't with you! This is a mistake!"

"Ra'Niir agrees with cowardly human," he mutters. Nobody seems to hear him, so he hangs his head and stays silent.

The Imperial woman speaks, but only the Kahjit's ears perk up to listen, "step towards the block when we call your name. One at a time." Her voice is cold and passionless.

"Empire loves their damn lists," Blond Nord whispers beside him. He is ignored.

An imperial man stands next to the Imperial Officer Woman, "Ulfric Stormcloak. Jarl of Windhelm." He adresses the Gagged Nord in the fur cape.

Ulfric steps away as the Blond Nord bows his head in respect, "it has been an honor, Jarl Ulfric."

Ra'Niir wishes he would shut up, at least so Ra'Niir could die in peace! The thought nearly makes his knees turn to Netch jelly.

"Ralof of Rverwood," Imperial Man says, reading off his scroll. Blond Nord steps past Horse Thief silently as the man reads his next name, "Lokir of Rorikstead."

Lokir steps forward desperately, "no, I'm not a rebel. You can't do this!" At the Imperials blank looks he darts past them panting.

"HALT!" Imperial Officer Woman shouts, she is ignored.

"You're not going to kill me!" He says, running for all he is worth.

Even before she shouts her next order the Imperial behind her draws an arrow to his bow, "archers!" The arrow flies true, hitting Lokir in the back. He dies with a cry, mercifully, dead before the sound dies away.

"Anyone else feel like running?" Imperial Officer Woman asks. Ra'Niir doesn't respond, he hangs his head in defeat.

Imperial man looks down at his list, "wait. You there, step forward." The Kahjiit knows he is being spoken to and doesn't look up, he does as he is commanded. "Who are you?" The Imperial Man's question is direct and even.

"This one is called Ra'Niir," he replies. He is terrified but manages to speak without breaking. He had never been very brave but Ra'Niir would not die a coward, if he must die at all.

The Imperial Man writes something on his scroll, speaking without looking up. "You with one of the trade caravans, Kahjiit? Your kind always seems to find trouble." He glances up occasionally, not to judge reaction but to note Ra'Niir's features, he knows this because he had been questioned by Imperials before. Though never for a something as dire as this. The Kahjiit does not respond.

When he finishes with the list he looks up to the Imperial Officer Woman, "Captain. What should we do? He's not on the list." Ra'Niir feels a spark of hope.

"Forget the list," he Captain says coldly, "he goes to the block." The spark is dashed before it catches, the Kahjiit sighs, a hopeless tear threatens the corner of his eye and he wipes it away.

"By your orders, Captain." Imperial Man replies, Ra'Niir believes he catches a not of regret there. "I'm sorry. We'll make sure your remains are returned to Elsweyr." This last part, at least, brings a measure of peace. If nothing else, his spirit would find rest at home rather than this cold place.

The Captain moves away towards the block and the other prisoners, "follow the Captain, prisoner."

Feeling more alone than ever in his life, Ra'Niir nods dumbly, following the Captain in silence. As they reach the block and he stands among the other doomed Stormcloak soldiers the man called General Tullius addresses Ulfric.

"Ulfric Stormcloak. Some here in Helgen call you a hero, but a hero doesn't use a power like the Voice to murder his king and usurp his throne." As Tullius finishes Ulfric's eyes narrow, clearly angered by these words. He grunts and Tullius replies as if they were a rebuke, "you started this war. Plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace."

A strange noise causes everyong to stop, looking about curiously for a moment. "What was that?" Imperial man asks no-one in particular.

"It's nothing. Carry on." Tullius replies as if he hadn't heard it. Ra'Niir does not agree, the noise scares him almost as much as his impending death.

"Yes, General Tullius!" Imperial Captain toadies, stepping forward. She then turns to a human in a yellow robe behind her and commands, "give them their last rights."

As the robed one's voice rings out in prayer it is known to be a woman: "As we command your souls to Aetherius, blessings of the Eight Divines upon you, for you are the salt and earth of Nirn, our beloved-"

"For the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with!" One of the Stormcloak soldiers shouts, making Ra'Niir start.

"As you wish," the priestess says tersely.

He is lead to the headsman's block with defiance on his face, "come on, I haven't got all morning!" Ra'Niir silently agrees, none of them do.

As the Imperial Captan shoves him down to rest his head on the block, facing the Headman, he continues. "My ancestors are smiling at me, Imperials, can you say the same?" Nobody answers as the headsman raises his ax, and then lets it fall, cleaving off the stormcloak's head and silencing him forever. Ra'Niir smells the blood, coppery in the air, and even this he savors as a last thing to know.

Captain kicks the corpse over, away from the block as a woman shouts, "you Imperial bastards!" At the same time one of the men says, "justice!" And a woman agrees, "death to the Stormcloaks!." Ra'Niir thinks this is unfair, he is not a part of this war, but he says nothing.

The one called Ralof speaks sadly, "as fearless in death as he was in life." Ra'Niir can only hope he does not soil himself before his head is taken.

"Next, the cat!" The Captain commands, and he almost throws up as his belly clenches painfully. Suddenly the strange cry comes again, making everyone look around nervously, Ra'Niir wishes he could cover his ears.

"There it is again," Imperial Man says, "did you hear that?"

"I said, next prisoner." The Captain grunts, seemingly unaffected by the strange cries.

"To the block, prisoner." Imperial man says, a hand guides Ra'Niir to has last moments. "Nice and easy." He hears the voice but does not respond. He hopes it is as quick as it looked.

He is shoved forward to lay his head on the block, his nose fills with the scent of death and blood as he is forced to turn his face to the headman, who lifts his ax unceremoniously.

Without warning the cry from before rends the air and Ra'Niir sees a dark shape come into view behind the tower in the background briefly. The headsman doesn't seem to notice as his ax arcs higher.

"What in Oblivion is that?!" Tullius cries.

The shape reappears over the tower as the Captains voice rises in alarm, "Sentries! What do you see?" She must not be facing the same way as Ra'Niir, for he can see just fine. His breath will not come to him as he cowers on the block.

A man's voice rises in panic just as the monstrous thing lands atop the tower, "It's in the clouds!" The ground shakes and the headsman stumbles, falling to the earth beside the Kahjiit.

A woman's voice cries out, "DRAGON!" And that is what it is. The Headsman stands up to face the beast, still holding the ax. The dragon roars powerfully enough to make the large man stumble again.

Imperial Man steps before him as he kneels on the ground with his head still on the block, frozen in shock as General Tullius shouts a command, "don't just stand there! Kill that thing!" The dragon lets loose another blast of force. Dizzied, Ra'Niir is knocked away from the block. He is not sure he could stand let alone kill a dragon, he grins at the situation. This is madness.

"Guards! Get the townspeople to safety!" Someone shouts.

A hand grips his shoulder as he blearily stares at the cobbles with scattered thoughts, "Hey, Kahjiit, get up! Come on, the gods won't give up another chance!" It is the voice of the blond man, Ralof, and Ra'Niir stumbles to his feet, running before he even knows which direction he's going. Somewhere off to his left a man shouts, "Fall, damn you!" or somesuch as that, it is difficult to focus but Ra'Niir is pretty sure fire and stones are falling from the sky. He stops just outside a tower as Ralof hurries inside and is spurred on by a small stone clipping his shoulder, he grunts in pain and stumbles inside past a dead imperial lying on the stairs.

A door slams shut behind him, Ra'Niir leans over on his knees and gasps for air, though it is still tinged with blood and the smell of roasting flesh. Screams and shouts are still clear to his sensitive ears eve through the heavy wooden door behind him. To his right Ralof catches his breath, before him a wounded blue-cloak woman is being tended by a man in the same garb.

Turning his head, Ra'Niir looks dumbly at the Jarl of Windhelm who stands close to him on the left. Ralof seems to notice him at the same moment, the cat can hear him straighten hastily to address his leader.

"Jarl Ulfric! What is that thing?! Could the legends be true?" The words tumble from Ralof's mouth as if he could not trust his own eyes.

"Legends don't burn down villages," the Jarl replies in his deep voice. A roar from the creature can be heard close by, Ulfric looks up briefly before shouting a command, "we need to move! Now!"

"Up through the tower," Ralof shouts, "let's go!" Ra'Niir does not need to be told twice.

He darts up the stairs that circle the inside of the tower, fear clearing his eyes and driving his steps, he just about reaches the first landing before any of Ralof's men respond.

"We just need to m-umf!" A man is cut off as the wall just above Ra'Niir implodes inward, pieces of the wall flying past his face. At almost the same instant a bowl-loosening voice says, "Yul-toor-shul!" And Ralof cries, "get back!" Just in time to yank Ra'Niir away from a blast of fire that singes the black hair on his face. The monster takes off again, leaving a moment of peace besides the sounds of licking flames and tumbling stone. The stunned silence allows him to take in the tower stairs ascent blocked by debris and a man-blue-cloak's body, as well as the massive hole where Ra'Niir had been seconds ago.

"See the Inn on the other side?" Ralof asks, Ra'Niir nods mutely. "Jump through the roof and keep going!" He hesitates for a moment as another blast of fire is released from the dragon's maw. "Go!" Ralof gives him a shove, "we'll follow when we can!"

The shove turns into a half leap and partial tumble that never-the-less finds him standing inside the second floor of the Inn. Ra'Niir takes a moment to look at a freshly made bed and a shelf with bric-a-brac strewn around it before he darts to the hole on the opposite side of the room to drop down. He skids to a stop as he is about to exit through a doorway when a terribly large shadow crosses it.

"Get off the road, boy!" Comes he voice of an old man, suddenly, and Ra'Niir is spurred outside to find the source. Not for any heroics but he feels safer in a group than alone, even with humans. As he exits the dragon flies over again and Ra'Niir skids to a stop once more, An older man stands to one side and the Imperial Man with the list from before stands to the other, both facing away to shout at the boy from the porch, who is standing in the middle of the street several yards away looking as terrified as Ra'Niir feels.

"Haming, get over here!" Commands the Imperial Man just as the dragon makes yet another pass, "Haming you need to get over here NOW!" The man's voice does the trick and the boy, Haming, runs past them and into cover beside a blasted building to Ra'Niir's right, "That a boy. You're doing great."

The men turn to run just as the great black dragon lands in the street where the boy was just standing, Imperial man shouts as he runs, "Torolf!" The dragon rears it's head back and Ra'Niir dives for cover beside the boy as the men join them, "Gods...Everyone get back!" They all duck behind the shattered wall, more than happy to oblige as the dragon lets loose a fiery blast.

Imperial man seems to notice Ra'Niir for the first time, "still alive prisoner?" He asks, then continues, not waiting for Ra'Niir's nod, "keep close to me if you want to stay that way. Gunmar, take care of the boy, I have to find General Tullius and join the defense."

Ra'Niir goes to follow the human as the old man, Gunmar, gives his parting words, "Gods guide you Hadvar."

Without time to reflect on finally knowing the human's name, Ra'Niir follows him through the streets choked with burning debris and shattered burning bodies. The stench is horrendous, somewhere a soldier shouts to no-one in particular, "what does it take to kill this monster?"

They dart to the left where a pile of burned wood, once a fence, creates a ramp. The two jump down into an alley between a building on the right and a thick stone wall where Hadvar shouts back, "stay close to the wall!" as he looks around the corner of the building.

Ra'Niir only gets a heartbeat before he hears a man shout, "General Tullius, over here!" He lifts his head a heartbeat before the dragons overshadows the wall and roasts the shouting man, who lets out one brief cry of agony before expiring.

Just as the dragon leaps away again Hadvar surges to his feet, "quickly, follow me!" He is off up the stairs beside the building and gone from Ra'Niir's sight before he has the chance to react. Cursing, the Kahjiit darts into the open to follow. Stringing every invective he knows at Imperials, Stormcloaks, and humans in general.

Dashing past a dead body and through a tumbled building, they hear many voices all talking at once. When they come into the open Ra'Niir sees a woman in Imperial garb holding fire in her hands. He doesn't have time to wonder at this but turns past her just in time to hear her shout, "Move! Move!" As if he wasn't already.

Hadvar circles to the left with the Kahjiit right on his bootheels, "it's you and me, prisoner. Stay close!" He calls over his shoulder.

They pass an Imperial bowman at a dead sprint through an archway as the man fires an arrow at the passing beast overhead, "how in Oblivion do you kill this thing?!"

Without stopping the cat gasps, "Ra'Niir does not know!" He doesn't care if the human hears him but he puts his head down and runs faster, wishing he could get the painful ropes off.

As they enter a courtyard Ralof appears with a few Stormcloaks close behind and Hadvar skids to a stop. "Ralof, you damned traitor, out of my way!" Is the greeting the Imperial gives.

"We're escaping, Hadvar. You're not stopping us this time." Ralof shoots back with venom in his words.

"Fine, I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovngarde!" As Hadvar says this the dragon swoops low and they all scatter while Ra'Niir ducks and covers his head with his hands, his claws nipping the flesh of his scalp. Hadvar goes left to a large wooden door while Ralof goes right to a different one, both calling for Ra'Niir to join them. Torn, the cat looks wildly at both men, not sure who to trust...

((A/N: I would like to point out that at the end of every chapter I will leave options for you, the readers, to choose from. The first choice was already taken and a second chapter written on another site but due to lack of interest there I have migrated it here. I will be posting a second chapter right away that you can vote on. I hope you liked it and be sure to vote on the options I give in the next chapter!))


	2. Freedom

((A/N: Okay, second chapter, don't forget to read the note at the end and vote!))

Without knowing why, Ra'Niir suddenly makes a snap decision to join Hadvar the Imperial, he darts left as the man begins to shout for his attention again.

"Inside, quick!" Hadvar implores with a gesture, "I'll cut your bonds once we're-" whatever he was to say is drowned out by a roar from the dragon. This spurs the Khajiit into a burst of strength and he shoves Hadvar into the door he'd been standing in front of, tumbling them both inside unceremoniously.

Hadvar bars the door behind them while Ra'Niir stands still with both eyes shut tight, saying nothing. The Imperial barely looks at him when he begins to speak in a tone of stunned shock, "looks like we are the only ones who made it." He walks past the cat and stops before him, "was that really a dragon? The bringers of the End times?"

Shaking his head, Ra'Niir replies breathlessly, "why...would Ra'Niir...know this?"

The Imperial does not answer, instead the sound of a blade clearing it's sheath is heard and Ra'Niir's eyes pop open I alarm.

It is a long stone room, Ra'Niir stands in the middle before the door, the floor is uneven and wet under his poorly shod feet. To the right there is a raised section separated by a stone wall, dividing the room into two sections here. On his right, closest to the door, is a rough wooden table surrounded by wooden shelves. A pair of chairs are pushed against it side-by-side and a wooden bowl sits atop it. A deer skull sits on the top of a shelf facing him and below that is a bucket.

In the left side closest the door are beds with large wooden chests at the foot of a few, this side is deeper than the other and extends the length of the room, two pillars of stone under immense beams of wood supporting the ceiling turn his eyes to the last area on the right where Ra'Niir can just make out a couple of round wood tables with a chair apiece and a larger wooden chest. The whole room is dim compared to the day outside but torches on the walls and pillars as well as a pair of iron floor-standing candelabras give the room plenty of illumination for the sharp eyed Khajiit.

"We should keep moving. Come here, let me see if I can get those bindings off." Hadvar says, interrupting the cat in his inspection of the room. Ra'Niir blinks, approaches warily, and then flinches when the human splits the thick rope at his wrists with a sharp iron dagger.

"There you go," the man says, turning away from him, "take a look around. There should be plenty of gear to choose from. I'm going to see if I can find something for these burns." Ra'Niir didn't even notice the man was hurt but when he does he becomes aware of the soreness of his left shoulder and how very sore his wrists are. He rubs them experimentally as he watches Hadvar move into the sleeping section on the left.

"Got to be a sword or two in one of these chests." He points out without looking back at the cat, "look around."

With the human's clear permission to ransack the room, Ra'Niir moves to his right to inspect that section first. As he approaches the well worn table he stifles a gasp when he immediately spots four gold coins laying on it's surface. He looks over his shoulder at the human but Hadvar is busy inspecting a large wooden portcullis blocking the only way out of the room. He snatches the coins up in his palm, careful not to let them rattle against each other. When he doesn't see anything else of use he moves ahead to the other half of the room to the left.

This side of the room is fairly sparse, the beds are simple, and the first trunk is empty. Ra'Niir considers the fact that the men who once slept here are likely dead outside and he does feel some guilt, but as his Papa used to say, 'dead men don't need what they cannot take to the grave.' When he opens the second chest he finds nine more gold pieces and a light leather helmet. He palms the gold and puts on the helmet, which is snug but serviceable.

At last he goes over to the final section of the room, next to each of the round tables in a weapons rack, each with a sword. These Ra'Niir ignores as he has no clue how to use one. He once saw a soldier drop such a blade, which severed his smallest toe, and turned the cat from bladed weapons completely. A shelf to the right holds two bottles of wine, one of which is Alto wine and fairly expensive, Ra'Niir takes this as he turns to the chest to his left and takes a long healthy swallow. Unfortunately that was all the bottle had, so it is discarded with some regret, it was certainly good wine.

Inside the chest the Khajiit finds some light Imperial armor as well as sturdy leather boots and a sword. He slips his feet into the boots and discovers a key in one of them, he drops the coins into his left boot for safekeeping. then faces back into the room. The blade he leaves in the chest but he quickly ditches his prisoner rags and pulls on the armor, unfortunately it is a little small, but he manages to belt it on.

As he turns he discovers Hadvar watching him, the man doesn't comment on the coins, as Ra'Niir had feared.

"You better get that armor on," he says mildly, "try giving that sword a few swings, too." With a nod towards his left hand, which still holds the small brass key, Hadvar asks the obvious question. Ra'Niir shrugs and meets Hadvar's eyes, "Ra'Niir cannot use this weapon, this one prefers his claws."

Nodding, the man speaks in a whisper, "lets keep moving, that thing is still out there."

Almost as if summoned the beast makes a cry overhead and both men cringe when the building shakes. Glancing at Ra'Niir, Hadvar says nothing, instead he approaches a chain hanging from the wall with a ring set in it that the cat hadn't noticed before. He pulls this ring and the portcullis drops into a slot in the floor with much clanking. Ra'Niir does not understand the purpose of the entrance room having such easy to open gates, but he has never understood they ways of the hairless humans.

"Come on, this way." Hadvar says, Ra'Niir follows the man down a small passage that turns right after a short distance. It opens into a large square room with a single huge archway barred by another portcullis. Hadvar skids to a stop as the keep shudders from one more draconian blast. "We need to get moving! That dragon is tearing up the whole keep!"

Without questioning this obvious wisdom, Ra'Niir only nods mutely, Hadvar pulls on a second ring set into the right side of the doorway.

Suddenly a voice is heard coming from the now open passage, "just give me a minute...I'm out of breath..." The voice is female and she does sound winded.

Ra'Niir immediately drops into an instinctive crouch behind Hadvar as he whispers over his shoulder, "Hear that? Stormcloaks. Maybe we can reason with them." The cat considers this a foolish question, of coarse he heard them, he is Khajiit.

Not waiting for a response the Imperial steps out from the archway with raised hands. Both Stormcloaks notice the man at the same time and draw their weapons. The woman wields a two handed iron sword and the blond man with the braided hair has a great-ax. They both rush at Hadvar, who draws his own sword with a sneer, "if you want to die, so be it." The man's voice is grim as he slaps the first blow of the great-ax aside with his blade and snaps the shield on his back into his left hand just in time to stop the woman from hacking that arm off.

Feeling a sudden rush of adrenaline, Ra'Niir leaps into the fray with a snarl and swipes his claws across the Ax-wielders neck, who recoils from the unexpected attack with a grunt of pain. He turns to Ra'Niir swinging wildly but his attack is loose and wide, the blade skips across the floor, drawing sparks. Not willing to let the man regain his advantage on the unarmed cat, Ra'Niir leaps to the attack again, getting inside the man's reach, making his weapon all but useless. Staggered from the brutal unexpected rush, the Stormcloak utters a curse as his opponent slams into him with both clawed hands swinging.

Pushing the Khajiit off, the man isn't seriously hurt but both his arms and face are covered in deep gashes, he dashes the blood from his eyes. With hardly time to think, the soldier swings his ax at Ra'Niir's face with a bellow of rage. The cat dips nimbly aside from the incoming weapon without even consciously registering it, then he grabs at the man as he passes and snags a thick braid in his left hand. Forced to follow the weight of his swing, the man's head is jerked backwards, leaving Ra'Niir free to viciously drag his claws through the Stormcloak's exposed throat.

Blood splashes the surprised cat, who almost mirrors his victim's stunned expression, before the dying soldier drops to his knees. It's over in seconds. Ra'Niir watches the man topple forwards as his weapon hits the ground with a clatter that makes the cat jump when it rings several times through the room. At first he can't make sense of the sound until he realizes that he is hearing Hadvar's ongoing struggle with the woman.

When he turns he sees them circling each other in a deadly dance, both wearing matching sneers, and the Khajiit knows he does not wish Hadvar to die and leave him in this place alone.

The woman throws up her blade to deflect Hadvar's next stroke then instinctively turns with the blade still raised over her head to face the approaching Khajiit. Her face flashes to confusion at his appearance and she looks past him at her large friend lying dead in a pool of his own blood. When her gaze flicks back to him he registers her astonishment not at all, instead he steps into her as she attempts an overhead swing too late.

Grabbing her hands, Ra'Niir throws his knee into her gut for all he is worth and is rewarded with a surprised grunt of pain. The shock of the blow forces the air from her lungs and her hands loose their grip on the sword, which falls away behind her with a clang. He then turns and ducks his right shoulder into her chest, at the same time his right hand grips her chin and his left hand grabs the back of her head. With a grunt of effort the cat pushes up straight while twisting and pulling with his whole upper body. The poor woman doesn't even get a breath back before she swings laterally over his shoulder, the bones in her neck snapping with finality as she measures her length on the stone.

After a moment where he stands staring at her corpse, Ra'Niir blinks as if coming out of a trance, he notices a small trickle of blood at one corner of her mouth. He turns to Hadvar to see the man staring at him with his mouth open slightly, sword and shield still in his hands but not readied for a fight. The swords point rests on the floor.

Seemingly gathering himself, Hadvar wipes his blade in the woman's shirtfront and sheaths it, "let me see if I can get the door open." He turns away from the cat, walking towards the iron gate behind him, to try and force the stubborn latch.

Ra'Niir looks from one dead Stormcloak to the other, now shaking in the aftermath of all that adrenaline, without really seeing them. He is focused inside, remembering the bar brawls, prison fights, and competitions he had participated in during his short life. It wasn't that he particularly liked fistfights but he was certainly good at it, which was what got him kicked out of his home as little more than a cub. Taking up with a trade caravan had seemed like great fun, he enjoyed the freedom for several years, until that day in Cyrodil a few weeks back.

He'd been returning to his tent from an inn, with his purse comfortably heavy with coin after winning a fight, when the caravan leader confronted him. Apparently some things had gone missing from around camp several nights ago and the leader had just finished searching Ra'Niir's tent. He'd found several costly items, including things that had not yet been missed, hidden there.

With no choice but to flee, the once again homeless Khajiit had come north in a daze so complete he had stumbled into an Imperial ambush. He had thought it a fitting end to his luck after all that had happened, but now...He didn't know what to do, except survive.

One other thing that bothered him was that these two were the first people he had ever killed. He's fought plenty, sure, but even the drunken brawls were broken up before they got too violent. Being a scout was more about avoiding conflict than entering it, so he'd had little chance to kill people there either. He felt disturbed at how easy it had been, he could still feel their flesh as it parted for his claws and the hot wash of blood. No matter how many times he snorted the scent of their blood still stained him.

Hadvar scared him badly by placing a hand on his shoulder briefly, "don't think about it, cat, it never does any good."

Nodding without meeting the man's eyes, Ra'Niir follows him through the now open gate and into another stone passage.

The gate immediately opens to large, square, high ceiling room. Directly to his right as he enters there is a bench with a bucket on one end and a sack to the other, opposite the door is a single-axle cart with two heads of cabbage inside and a small barrel with a cup atop it.

Running to the left, the Imperial and the cat ignore all of this. The room curves slightly before becoming the upper landing of a stairwell, which they both plunge down recklessly. At the bottom of the stairs is another smaller square room, the only interesting feature here is a doorway to the right, which the men enter as the dragon gives a threatening growl.

Through this doorway a hallway leads off right and a single door is in the opposite wall. Before they can even consider their choices the keep trembles violently enough to nearly drop them both to the ground. The ceiling of this hallway collapses past the door as Hadvar shouts, "look out!"

When the dust settles, Hadvar walks up to the newly blocked passage, "damn! That dragon doesn't give up easy."

"Ra'Niir does not know why he should," The cat observes, "he is winning."

Ignoring that comment the Imperial open the only other way out as a gruff man's voice shouts on the other side of the door.

"What are you doing?! We have to get out of here!"

A second man answers impatiently, "the Imperials have potions in here, we're going to need them."

Ra'Niir gets a glimpse of a large, well furnished, and strangely shaped room before he spots the two Stormcloaks that belong to those two voices.

Without even pausing, Hadvar rushes them while drawing his sword, engaging a red haired man. He is the smaller of the two but he wields another great-ax while his larger friend holds a hand ax. Red-hair's first blow hits Hadvar's shield and he hooks the underside of his ax-blade over it to pull it wide, unfortunately Hadvar's blade is now free to strike and it sinks into the man's gut briefly, coming out wet.

Red-hairs friend had backed off to avoid his doomed companion's swing as well as free his own weapon but Ra'Niir does not stand idly by either. He rushes to Hadvar's side as he pulls his sword free and strikes Red-hair with his claws and all his might. With face rent from nose to ear, the force of the blow smashes his head into a wall, and he falls away. Dead or dying.

Just in time, Hadvar steps around Ra'Niir's back to catch Hand-ax's overhead blow on his shield while the cat backs away to orient on the new threat. The force of the blow knocks the Imperial to his hands-and-knees, he seems to be wounded. Feeling the blood suddenly rush in his ears, Ra'Niir leaps over his companion to superman punch Hand-ax. Staggered by the unexpected fury in his opponent, the Stormcloak takes just one step back to gain breathing room to swing but Ra'Niir is already advancing with a powerful body blow, he doubles over with a painful groan. With a roar of fury, the Khajiit leans over the bigger man to grasp him around the middle and haul him bodily into the air before whip lashing him headfirst into the hard stone floor. A sickening _crunch_ puts a poignant end to the combat.

Looking to Hadvar, Ra'Niir sees the man examining his left shoulder critically, but his armor seems to have stopped whatever caused the problem, a large dark bruise is the only evidence of harm. Hadvar looks up to catch the Khajiit's eye, as he stands he looks about the room, "an old storeroom. See if you can find some potions, might come in handy." With that said he stalks to the other end of the room in front of the door to await his companion, who turns to examine the room himself.

To the right of the door they'd entered there is a deer hide stretched across the wall behind a small round table with one chair, a candle on top, and a wine bottle next to that. He starts to step towards the bottle, suddenly very thirsty, when his boot strikes something solid and soft. Looking down he sees what was once Hand-ax, but more importantly, he sees the supple fur gauntlets he is wearing. Sighing, Ra'Niir draws the garments off and wears them, they are a little big on him. With some effort he manages to punch his claws through the leather, nods in satisfaction, and steps over the body to snatch up the Alto Wine from the table where he spotted it.

Left of the door they entered is a large stone fireplace, a fire burning nicely in it, with wood stacked all about it for burning. A large iron kettle sits off to the right of the fireplace, above it is a pheasant and a rabbit hanging from a rack set into one of the beams crossing the ceiling. Mouth watering, Ra'Niir devours them raw with gusto.

Now with a pleasant fire in his full belly and a half-bottle of wine hanging from his hip, the cat feels a little better. He follows to curve of the left wall where there is a large wooden table, two chairs, two large shelves against the wall, and a cupboard. First Ra'Niir takes the bread from the table, closely followed by replacing his half-full bottle of wine with a new one on the table as well, then he inspects the left-most shelf. The only things of interest here are a small bottle with a viscous blue fluid inside and a bowl of salt, he takes these, hanging the blue bottle from his hip. The next shelf holds nothing interesting so he moves on the the cupboard.

On the shelves above he finds a red bottle much like the blue one, except Ra'Niir has seen this before. It is a small health potion, a valuable comoddity in the wilderness, so he ties this to his belt as well. Inside the draws he adds four more gold coins to the boot with the rest, and uses some paper to wrap the bread and salt for later use.

The other side of the room has everything jumbled together in no particular order, barrels, bags, baskets, and boxes set aside for later. Ra'Niir searches these and in one of the boxes finds a traveling pack, to which he adds two bowls of salt now wrapped up in wax paper, a pair of rabbits, bread, four red apples, a second blue bottle as well as a green one, and four healing potions he is overjoyed to add to his stockpile.

As he approaches Hadvar with a wide grin the man nods to him, "done then? This way!" With that said he turns, opens the door behind him, and leaves through it with the cat close on his heels. Now on the other side of the collapsed hallway they decend four steps, pass a bench and an empty shelf jammed into a corner, and turn right into another decending flight of stairs.

They round the corner as Hadvar speaks, "the torture room. Gods, I wish we didn't need these..."

Before he can finish the thought the sounds of combat can he heard from below. With a galnce at each other they both charge down the stairs, Hadvar drawing his weapons and Ra'Niir flexing his claws.

They arrive just in time to find two men in Imperial regalia fighting a Stormcloak woman, another stormcloak lying dead beside her. Ra'Niir barely gets close enough to strike before she is brought down by the smaller of the two men, whose left hand sparks with a litteral handfull of lightening.

Turning towards the companions, the man speaks, "you fellows happened along just in time. These two seemed a bit upset at how I've been entertaining their comrades." The man's voice is cold and he apparently took pleasure in the recent deaths. Ra'Niir feels a chill go down his spine, were he not wearing armor he is sure his dark fur would have stood on end.

Hadvar strides past the man before turning to address him, "don't you even know what's going on? A dragon is attacking Helgen!" the tone of his voice makes it clear how much he dislikes this other human. It somehow raises Ra'Niir's estimation of Hadvar slightly.

"A dragon?" The Torturer sneers, "please. Don't make up nonsense." He pauses thoughtfully, "although, come to think of it...I did hear some odd noises coming from ver there." As he speaks he approaches a dark hallway on the other side of the room.

"Come with us," Hadvar says while watching the man, "we need to get out of here."

"You have no authrority over me, boy." The Torturer says this without even turning.

"Didn't you hear me?" Hadvar says angrily, "I said the keep is under attack!"

"Forget the old man," the other human speaking makes Ra'Niir jump as he had forgotten about this swarthy huma , "I'll come with you."

"Wait a second," Hadvar says, causing the Khajiit to turn back to him. "Looks like there is something in that cage." He jogs over to the midle cage of the three agaist the far wall.

"Don't bother with that." The Torturer smiles from in front of the first cage, "lost the key ages ago. Poor fellow screamed for weeks." His tone still makes Ra'Niir's skin crawl, not to mention how creepy it was that the cat had not heard him move.

"See if you can get it open with some picks," Hadvar says while handing over twelve of the thin iron objects, "we'll need everything we can get."

"Sure," The Torturer replies in a voice dripping with sarcasm, "take all my things. Please."

"Grab what you can and let's go." Hadvar strides off towards the dark hallway as he replies coldly, leaving the Khajiit to his search.

The caged gaurdroom in the corner opposite the area Hadvar dissapears into holds nothing of interest except a pair of lockpicks. Snatching these, Ra'Niir moves into the room propper to search the bodies of the two Stormcloaks. Finding nothing there either, he sees a small table snug against a pillar with a book, a knife, and a knapsack on it. The book catches his interest for some reason so he pockets it to look at later, the knife holds no special value, but the knapsack holds four more picks as well as one more health vial. Grinning, he pockets these.

His next act beings him uncomfortably close to the Torturer, who doesn't say a word, of which Ra'Niir is very glad. Picking this lock is practice, as there is nothing but bones in the first cage, and the lock is simple enough to spring wih ease. The next is just as easy and Ra'Niir wonders how the dead mage inside could not have escaped.

Searching the body proves fruitful, he finds three more blue potions, an arcane book, twenty-nine gold pieces in a pouch, (To which Ra'Niir adds his twenty-one and takes with glee.) and an expensive looking mage robe.

Moving on Ra'Niir hears the Torturer give parting words, "there's no way out that way, you know..." Hadvar and the Khajiit ignore him.

With Hadvar leading the way, they pass more cells set into the walls, and Ra'Niir searches them with the help of a few lockpicks. He is rewarded when he finds a purse of sixteen gold pieces hidden under a pile of straw in the last cell. He runs to catch up with Hadvar, smiling.

The hallway turns sharply left and goes down anouther steeper staircase, which opens into a room filled with cages. Some of the cages are filled with the dead in varying stages of decay, Ra'Niir does not search this room but passes through, his smile fading. The room's far wall seems to have collapsed to reveal a rougher tunnel beyond, Hadvar urges them on.

After a few jags in the passage it opens up a little and Ra'Niir can hear water rushing over stone as well as a man's voice, "where in Oblivion are we supposed to go?"

A second man answers the first, "this is that way out, just give me a minute-"

He cuts himself off as we enter the room. At first glance one notices the room is very damp and filled with water vapor from the two spillways, which are spanned by a pair of stone bridges. The first area of the room is a raised platform of flat cobblestone, great rusty iron braziers hold burning coals to light the way, and between their stout stone stands are thick wooden beams creating railings. The first bridge leads to a second cobblestone platform in the shape of a triangle jutting out from the wall between both spillways and both bridges. Each spillway runs into a single flow at exits on the opposite side of the room through a thick grate.

Finaly, past the second bridge, is an L-shaped area where four Stormcloak's are gathered, when we are spotted two of them rush forward, drawing weapons. One heads into the spillway's waters via a set of steps and the other darts across the bridges.

Ra'Niir rushes in as the Stormcloaks give battle cries, Hadvar crosses the bridge only to block the first blow from a woman's greatsword that narrowly misses his Khajiit companion as he leaps into the fray. With a single swipe through the flesh of her face, she is distracted just enough so Hadvar's next strike cleaves her collarbone. Ra'Niir drops off the side of the bridge into the water below to confront a man with a warhammer. He charges in, dodging the first swing of the weapon to land a solid punch, then is struck a glancing blow of the backswing. The blow deals little damage, so the cat moves forward with a left-right power combo attack, forcing the man to his knees and a last rake of claws across his throat.

An arrow whirs past Ra'Niir's face, which he twitches away from to head for the stairs, and eventually the archer. He meets Hadvar at the top, who is also rushing them with his shield up, and turns to confront his attacker.

Attackers, as it turns out, both with drawn bows

Hadvar takes both bolts with his sheild first and Ra'Niir runs around him to the left with a snarl. The foremost archer draws a second arrow and the other throws down his bow to draw a warhammer from the thong on his back. Hadvar moves in front of the arrow so it's tip is almost brushing the iron cap at the center of his shield, giving the cat an oportunity to spring unexpectedly around it and claw the arm which is holding the bow.

He recoils, sloppily loosing his arrow, and is rewarded with a blade in his chest. He second man swings wildly, hitting no-one at first, then his backswing bounces off Hadvar's shield and Ra'Niir rake's the man's face. The second claw attack is rebuked by a well placed slap by the hammer's handle before the man must return his attention to what he thinks is the more dangerous foe. Ra'Niir circles behind the man and nods to Hadvar. When the Imperial raises his sword the Khajiit kicks out hard into the Stormcloaks back, impaling him on Hadvar's readied weapon.

Both breathing hard, they share a nod of thanks and Hadvar moves up some well lit stairs behind the Stormcloak's last stand. "All right," he begins, "let's see if we can find a way out."

When searching the room for useful items, he finds the Torturer's Assistant sprawled dead on the first bridge, an arrow in his ribs. Ra'Niir sighs, he did not seem like such a bad man, though that does not stop Ra'Niir from taking his Imperial bracers. Better armor as well as easier to fight in. With less regret he strips a hunting bow and nineteen iron arrows from the other corpses before he rejoins Hadvar, who says, "let's see where this goes."

He strides to a wooden barricade blocking the tunnel, a lever of some sort set into the floor beside it, Hadvar uses this to drop the barricade and open the tunnel. Now acting as a bridge, the way is cleared for them to continue.

Just as they step off the bridge a roar turns them around in time to feel the keep tremble above and a large stone fall from the ceiling to crush where they'd just crossed. They look at each other with wide eyes.

"Damn it," Hadvar says quietly, "no going back that way."

"Why would Ra'Niir want to?" The cat asks in return.

Without answering, Hadvar continues, "I guess we're lucky that didn't come down on top of us." He looks around momentarily, "we'd better push on. I'm sure the others will find another way out."

They are on an elevated platform carved out of stone, steps lead into an even rougher cave bisected by a stream with fast flowing waters fed by a waterfall in the west wall. Another stream, this one likely fed by the spillway, meets it to become one loud flow. This Hadvar follows immediately but Ra'Niir motions him to wait so he can explore upstream a bit.

His instincts serve him well, he finds a pile of bones with a single health potion and twenty-one coins in a cloths bag all but rotted away. The passage leads to the under side of the collapsed bridge and nothing else, so Ra'Niir rejoins Hadvar.

A short distance downstream it enters a hole too small to follow, Hadvar frowns at it, "hmm. That doesn't go anywhere. I guess we'd better try this way." The man turns down a side passage but Ra'Niir stops again to scoop up another bag of coins near a second unfortunate pile of bones and wonders at his great luck.

Continuing, they follow a few twists to come into a very large cave of natural pillars covered with huge webs. Ra'Niir skids to a stop in alarm.

He HATES spiders, and he can already see a few of the giant beasts coming towards them. Hadvar charges into the fray but the cat draws out his bow, unwilling to close with the monsters.

The battle is harrowing, Ra'Niir pants in fear as he looses arrows into furry boddies, Hadvar hacking and grunting. Niether cat nor man is seriously injured but Hadvar comes out with his armor damaged.

"What's next, giant snakes?" He asks bitterly. Ra'Niir sympathetically shakes his head, now understanding the dead bodies in the tunnel.

When Hadvar moves on Ra'Niir does not stop to search the room but quickly follows him into a tunnel.

They exit it into an even larger cavern lit by soft light rather than sparse candles or torches. Ra'Niir has never been so glad to see the light. They recross a stream by way of a natural spur of rock, to find an old wagon to the right. Inside it are several cracked clay pots, inside of one of the pots is a potion and someone's stache of gold. Ra'Niir offers half to Hadvar, who shakes his head.

"Hold up," Hadvar whispers, pointing farther ahead. Ra'Niir freezes when he see's a large black bear dozing in a patch of sunlight. "There's a bear just ahead, see her?"

"How could Ra'Niir _not_ see her?!" The cat whispers tensly.

"I'd rather not tangle with her right now," Hadvar says seriously, "we might be able to sneak by. Just take it nice and slow, and watch where you step."

Before the man can even finish Ra'Niir is shaking his head, "bear's nose is better than ours. This is her terrirtory, better to strike hard first before we get dead." His words are grim.

Hadvar nods, hands Ra'Niir a bundle of arrows, and readies his sword. "I'll follow your lead..." He pauses, locking eyes with the Khajiit, "I hope you get lucky."

"This One does, too," he says under his breath.

He steps cautiously forward out of the torchlight to preserve his darkvision, readies his bow, and takes two deep steadying breaths. The arrow flies forward to bury itself into the bear, who jumps up to charge and stumbles a little. It spots them as Ra'Niir readies a second shot and Hadvar goes to meet it, before the human can even close an arrow flies past his elbow and hits the bear between the eyes with a loud _thunk._ Both bear and human skid to a stop, though the bear skids on it's face.

While Hadvar scouts ahead with an apprciative nod, Ra'Niir skins the corpse, unwilling to let the pelt go to waste.

When the human returns he is grinning, "I have found the way out!"

Carefully hoisting his grisley trophy, Ra'Niir nods enthusiastically, he follows in the hope of an end to his trials. At least for now.

While leaving Hadvar looks sideways at his companion, "I was starting to wonder if we'd ever make it."

"Ra'Niir too, but we are alive," the cat pats his shoulder as they exit into the soft glow of a full moon's light somewhere up the side of one of Skyrim's many mountains. A large rock buried in the ground right off the side of the path leading to the cave they exite catches the cat's eye.

Just as he is about to thank Hadvar the man pulls him down to his behind the large rock, "wait!" He says, urgently, just as a roar pre-empts the massive shadow flying overhead to dissapear into the sky.

After a moment the Imperial stands, still looking into the sky, "looks like he is gone for good this time. But I don't think we should stick around to see if he comes back."

Agreeing wholeheartedly, the cat nods.

Seeing this, Hadvar continues, "closest town from here is Riverwood." He points vaguely north, "My uncle is the blacksmith there. I'm sure he'd help you out."

Sensing Hadvar's next words as he begins to depart, Ra'Niir lays his ears back.

"It's probably best if we split up," the man says as he waves over his shoulder, "Good luck. I would not have made it without your help today, Ra'Niir."

The Khajiit says nothing, too surprised the human would remember his name, and he looks around. He is free, truly free to do as he pleases, with a decent amount of gold at his side.

Yet still, he didn't have a clue what he should do next.

((A/N: Reader, it is time for you to help Ra'Niir choose his destiny! There are four options ahead of him-

A: Follow Hadvar Immediately to Rorikstead. (main quest)

B: Explore nearby sites of interest. (I.E. standing stones/mines/ect.)

C: Do a different quest. (the Golden Claw for instance?)

D: Or should he do something else (please share your option and why)

That's it! Please choose cautiously as this is Ra'Niir's skin we are talking about here.))


End file.
